This discussion of Pimlico School's self-assessment procedures focuses on methods used for reconciling student grades from mixed-ability and from ability-grouped classes into a valid picture of individual and schoolwide attainment. (SJL)

A thirty-four item criterion referenced multiple choice mathematics placement examination was administered to 383 freshmen entering Chicago State University in the Fall, 1974. Each item of the test was constructed to measure a specific computational behavioral objective. The proportion of students demonstrating each desired behavior is reported.…

Women had higher high school grades and academic ability test scores in Grade 9. By 11 years after high school, men had more education and were earning more money. Sex differences in realization of achievement potential were found across all socioeconomic levels, and found to be partially due to role conflict. (Author/JAC)

This study investigated age trends in children's explanations of their own academic successes and failures. Ability attributions for success and failure in reading were more effectively predicted by reading attainment in older than in younger children. Perception of own attainment was more accurate in older children. Sex differences were also…

A review of the literature reveals that standard tests and grades predict academic success, but not necessarily adult achievement. (BB)

Discriminant analyses of 439 subjects who were asked to write an account of an achievement of failure, and to describe it in terms of locus of standards, conceptual focus, and initial expectations for success, indicated that cognitions were more readily patterned in terms of achievement domain than sex. (Author/BJV)

Significant developmental differences were found for student adjustment in a study exploring relations between standardized measures of students' achievement and teacher ratings of student adjustment for K-2 students in mixed-age classrooms. Teacher ratings of student adjustment were significantly lower for kindergartners compared to second…

The Challenge Index ranks high schools according to how many students take AP and IB exams, not on how well they do or how many pass. This index is published in Newsweek and the magazine calls it "America's Best High Schools." In this article, the author, also the creator of this index, answers some frequently asked questions about the index and…

This article describes the main findings of a follow-up survey of assessment and intervention models (current frameworks and future aspirations) used by Scottish Psychological Services that offer placements to Educational Psychologists in Training from the Dundee MSc in Educational Psychology from 1996-2005. This survey led to a study where…

Although an extensive literature exists on creativity and music, there is a lack of published research investigating possible links between musical creativity and Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow or optimal experience. This article examines a group composition task to study the relationships between creativity, flow and the quality of the…

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), all schools are required to demonstrate that all students make annual yearly progress (AYP). This can be difficult, particularly for students in urban schools and even more so for students with disabilities. The authors report on one large urban school district's attempts to provide support to 140 schools…

This study finds that the chief existing teacher evaluation methods (measuring teacher characteristics, student achievement test scores, and teacher performance rating scales) are subjective, open to bias, closed to public scrutiny, and based on irrelevancies. The study advocates evaluation procedures that are performance-based and empirically…

Standardized tests are not sufficient to measure the full area of school effectiveness because they encourage the rating of students on a narrow range of capabilities, the emphasis of only one set of educational goals, and the use of a uniform set of teaching methods. (JW)

The history of evaluations of academic departments through peer review rankings and subsequent attempts to identify empirical correlates of the ratings are reviewed. Findings indicate that American Council on Education rankings can be predicted by the departmental rate of publication in highly cited journals. (Author/MLW)

Addresses the problems of declining student performance as measured by standardized achievement test scores and attendant loss of confidence in public schools by offering nine specific ideas for stimulating significant gains in student achievement. (Author/WD)